If you are designing your dream kitchen and want to achieve a warm, inviting, and stylish look, you are going to love these modern vintage kitchen design tips.
We are in the process of renovating our outdated cottage kitchen. I’ve seen potential since the day we moved in, and now the time has finally come to redesign the space! We want a modern vintage kitchen that radiates comfort, nostalgia, and timeless elegance. It is not finished quite yet, but I wanted to write a blog post all about the design process.
If you’re looking for inspiration for your own modern vintage kitchen, you may find inspiration for cabinets, hardware, countertops, and so on.
This blog post is all about beautiful modern vintage kitchens!
What Characterizes a Modern Vintage Kitchen?
Modern vintage home decor is all about balance. Transitional is also a term used to describe this style (a mix of traditional and modern). You want the inviting and nostalgic feeling that vintage decor brings, while also having it look like the room was designed in 2024. This is an art in itself! In this style, clean and modern lines are contrasted with rustic woods and antique finds. The key to achieving a cohesive look is to decide on a color palette and stick to it. Usually, there are certain vintage pieces of furniture or decor that you want to stand out. Therefore, sticking to warm, neutral wall colors like cream and greige can be a good idea. If you want to incorporate more color, forest green, deep blue, and even burgundy (if you’re feeling bold) can be gorgeous options on contrasting walls or furniture.
9 Steps to Achieve the Dream Kitchen
1. Flooring
In a kitchen, tiled floors can be a great option. It is practical and beautiful at the same time. With tile, you won’t have to worry about water spills or scratches, and there are lots of designs to choose from. However, if you are craving warmth and coziness in your kitchen, wooden floors are the way to go. We have original hardwood floors in our cottage, which we sanded down and stained with a beautiful dark brown and finished with hard wax oil. I couldn’t be happier with the floors! The only problem with dark wood is that you can see every little speck of dust, and scratches show up more easily than on lighter shades.
2. Cabinets
When it comes to cabinets, go for the traditional shaker style. These cabinets are timeless, and they go with both modern and vintage decor. We decided to paint our old cabinets a light grey color and I’m really happy with that choice. Neutral colors allow us to have fun with decor, and to switch up the colors of towels, flowers, mugs, etc. with the seasons. Good cabinet color choices for a modern vintage kitchen are classic white, warm greige, black, grey, and shades of green or blue.
3. Countertops
Countertops have the ability to make a statement in a kitchen, and they come in tons of options. It can be super hard to choose one! If your other design choices are somewhat rustic and vintage (like wooden floors, brass hardware, etc.), consider a more sleek and modern countertop style like dark soapstone or marble. This way you will instantly make the kitchen look more expensive and up to date.
I love the look of wooden countertops, but we simply have too many shades of wood in our kitchen. With a wooden floor and a wooden ceiling, we quickly eliminated the wooden countertop option. If you go for tiled floors and have a white ceiling, for example, wooden butcherblock countertops are going to look stunning. We are renovating our kitchen on a budget and ended up deciding on dark laminate countertops. Laminate may not be the most exclusive option, but there are lots of realistic-looking options out there, and they’re quite durable.
When choosing countertops, remember this: it’s your kitchen. You are the one who is going to spend hours in there cooking. Consider what you’ll be doing in the kitchen and how durable you need the material to be. If you’re going to make blueberry pies with a toddler helping out, marble may not be the best option for example, because it stains easily. If you still can’t decide – trust your gut feeling. It’s usually right!
4. Sink and Faucet
Again, it’s all about balance in the modern vintage kitchen. Farmhouse faucets and porcelain sinks are sure winners, but you don’t have to go that route. The fun thing about modern vintage is that it’s up to you to choose the modern:vintage ratio. You could go 60% modern and 40% vintage. Or you could go 20% modern and 80% vintage. If you want a built-in black sink, that can totally work. There are even brass sinks out there that are super interesting and gorgeous. In our kitchen, we already have an unlacquered brass faucet that we are going to use. We still haven’t decided on a sink, but we might go for a large stainless steel built-in sink, just because I really want a large sink this time around.
5. Appliances
When it comes to appliances, think about the overall design of your kitchen and decide whether you want the appliances to stand out or blend in. A black stove against white cabinets can look amazing, and the stove becomes a focal point.
In our kitchen, we decided on a black, built-in stove against our light grey cabinets. There are many functional appliances out there that are also aesthetically pleasing. Smeg is an example of a brand that carries gorgeous fridges, ranges, dishwashers, etc. I have their toaster, and I’m very happy with it. It’s like a functional accessory for the kitchen!
6. Hardware
The hardware is the jewelry of the kitchen, and in the modern vintage style, I’d go for porcelain, brass, or black. These finishes look elegant against both modern and vintage decor. You could go for all knobs, all handles, or a mix of both.
We decided to go with all porcelain and brass knobs similar to these, and I think it adds to the vintage charm of the space.
7. Decor Elements
This is the fun part! Decorating and styling is where you really get to be creative. Add vintage pieces to your countertops and shelves such as old picture frames, baskets, vintage table lamps, wooden spoons, cutting boards, ceramic vases… The list goes on and on!
I can’t wait to go thrifting and pick out some gems for my kitchen counters. I also imagine a little table lamp in a corner would look super cute.
8. Lighting Fixtures
In a kitchen, there are three sources of light you need to consider.
- Overhead light
- Work Light
- Decorative light
You want to have a good general lighting source that lights up the whole room. Then you want good lighting under your cabinets and by the stove so that you can see what you’re doing when you cook. The third lighting source is optional but also the cutest: decorative light. This is where I’d add pendants or cute wall lamps just because they look good and pull the space together.
I personally love vintage, cottage-style lamps and have made a Pinterest board with tons of inspiration:
9. Shelves
Open shelving looks gorgeous in a modern vintage kitchen, and I’d love to have them myself one day. As of right now, we’re finding it more practical to have upper cabinets. As I said earlier, we are limited on space (that also includes storage space), so we’ll take any cabinet we can.
I do think open shelving is a great idea which also allows you to change things up by switching out the items you have on display.
That was it! I am so excited about this kitchen project and I can’t wait to write a blog post about how it turned out. I hope you found some inspiration for your own home! If you’re looking for more modern vintage home decor ideas, check out these blog posts. Have a great day!